The Stills — Oceans Will Rise

Oceans Will Rise

Arts & Crafts/EMI

Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

08/20/2008 10:16am

Oceans Will Rise attempts to marry the post-punk styles of The Stills' Logic Will Break Your Heart debut and the more jammy, upbeat sound of 2006's Without Feathers. "Snow In California" features subtle post-punk-influenced instrumentation, but it's a bit more major key than anything on Logic. That it's stronger than anything on either of their previous albums shows The Stills have grown as a band. "Rooibos/Palm Wine Drinkard," with its U2-meets-spaghetti western guitar riff, is probably the best track The Stills have ever written. Sure, there's still a weird key change halfway through "Being Here" — which we should be used to by now, since The Stills did the same thing on Logic's "Still In Love Song" — but it sounds a bit less jarring. That said, there's still some highly questionable material. The strange, synth-filled "Everything I Build" doesn't work and makes the track seem very out of place with the rest of the album. Then there's "Panic," which is absolutely terrible and lacks direction. But for the most part, this album manages to be more original and better than anything The Stills have released.

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